


A Second Chance

by SilverDash1999



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7933891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDash1999/pseuds/SilverDash1999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every god has its own regrets, Gaea's biggest one is Leo Valdez...</p><p>But she is going to make things right...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Here is SilverBlaze1999, with another crazy idea. Hope you like this story and dont forget to give me Kudos and Comment (New ideas are always welcome)

**Hello, this is SilverBlaze1999 with another crazy story. Hope you like it, since I’m planning to continue writing a lot about this**

**Disclaimer:** I own NOTHING; Rick Riordan does (The only things I own is the plot, OCs and this idea)

 **Summary:** Even gods have their own regrets; Gaea’s biggest one was Leo Valdez.

 **Phrase of the Chapter:** Humor was a good way to hide the pain – Leo Valdez

 

**Chapter 1 – Where Leo Learns How to Float and Forgive**

 

Leo Valdez wasn’t many things. But he was pretty sure he had died a moment ago.

He could remember the smell of burning dirt-face, the heartbreaking expressions from Jason and Piper as he sacrificed for them, and even that weird girl-like scream that came from that comet of Imperial Gold that hit him. If he closed his eyes, he could even feel as if he was still in the battlefront.

So, why was he floating in an endless world of nothingness? That was crazy, even for his own standards.

“What…?”He asked to no one in particular as he examined himself. All the wounds he had suffered from the battle were gone. His now deathly-pale skin was worrying him a lot though. He was supposed to be dead, Hades hated when people cheated death; so, what was happening? Whatever had happened, he knew he wasn’t going to solve it for as long as he was floating without a direction. But, for some reason, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was a ghost of some sorts.

The white shirt and pants that had replaced his previous outfit wasn’t helping too.

He started waving his arms up and down in an effort to shove himself to his right and, surprisingly it worked. It was kind of like swimming, even though he had never swum before. Soon, he was floating everywhere as he laughed like if it was a game. He never imagined that floating around would’ve been so fun.

‘So this is what Jason feels when he’s flying’ he mused. Maybe he should ask for him to take him to fly with him next… Nevermind, Leo was dead. Talking about his death, what had happened back there?

Are Piper, Jason and the other safe?

Did Festus managed to survive the explosion?!

Is the camp okay?!

What about Calypso?!

Is Gaea…? Is Gaea really dead?

As if the world was sensing the inner turmoil from the boy, the gravity suddenly returned, making Leo fall from a great height. But since he was already dead, he would only felt pain when he reached the… ground? Was there even ground in this world?

“AHHH! Shit, that hurts!”

Yep, there was definitely solid ground in this world. Completely invisible, though; it felt like he was walking on thin air, expecting to fall at any moment. With whatever strength he got left, he managed to stand up as best as he could and look around the place for something useful in vain. The whole place was white nothingness, as far as he could see.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” he shouted. His voice echoing everywhere. “Percy? Nico? Annie? Anybody here?” he asked again in a more worried tone

Nobody responded… He was alone. Not that he haven’t been alone before.

He had been alone since his mother’s death, going from foster home to foster home, never staying in one for so long. Most of the times the people there would be mean to him and when he found one that actually cared for him, he would be afraid of hurting them to and he would run away again.

He had lived on the streets after that for a long time too. Surviving from scraps of food and sleeping in sewers to avoid the Social Services and he had been fine. He had survived things no child should suffer and he did all that with a smile on his face like his mother taught him.

And then came his fake friendship with Jason and Piper. Memories that Tia Callida had implanted gave to them, making them think they were the best of friends. He wasn’t going to lie; he hoped that everything would stay like in the memories and that they would be together as friends, even if he would be the third wheel.

But then came the other demigods, Piper found a best friend in Annabeth and Hazel; and Jason found his pack in Frank, Percy and Nico. Even Coach had his girlfriend and son. And Leo… All he had was an automaton table and a dragon headmast.

Was it that selfish to wish for somebody to actually care for you? For what he had seen, the Fates thought so.

Well, at least if he was going to be alone for all eternity, he wasn’t going to be scolded for doing stupid things like…

“ECHO…!” he giggled as the sound echoed all around the place

“Valdez is awesome!” he shouted without a care in the world, happy to be in his own little world… until a well-known voice talked back

“Well, it’s official. You’re, by far, the most interesting human I have saw in my whole life, Valdez” Gaea’s voice rumbled all over the place, shaking Valdez until he fell on his butt “And that’s saying something, boy”

“GAEA! Where are you?! I killed you once, and I can do it again” Leo said, lightning his palms on fire to show how serious he was being

“There won’t be any need for that, little hero” she said as she materialized in front of him. Chunks of dirt and leafs, spilling over them, until a human-looking form was looming over him. Soon the figure started looking more normal on her appearance; dark brown hair sprouted from her head, her whole being seemed to solidify itself until it took a more stable form, as a large green dress appeared out of nowhere. Her skin became a clearer color, but the fact that it was as pale as Leo’s was the only thing that betrayed her ghostlike body. Other than that, she looked so healthy that you wouldn’t believe she wasn’t alive anymore. “For as you can see, I’m already dead” She stated as she glanced at him from her place

“So, it’s over?” he asked, not once letting his guard down.

“Yes, demigod, this whole ordeal is over. I lost, you died, and they won” she listed and took a seat in the ground as her from shimmered and took the appearance of a normal woman. Not the model-like frame that Hera liked to use so much, just a normal and pretty woman in her forties. She then looked at him and his hands “You might as well turn off your flames. I can’t hurt you and you can’t hurt me, Valdez” she spoke in a disinterested tone.

“HECK YEAH, I’m going hurt you!” Leo yelled and ran to where Gaea was, his flaming-fist up in the air and without a warning, punched as hard as he could the head of the goddess… only for his fist, and his whole-self to pass through her like if she was made of mist.

“What the…?” he asked himself, but quickly dismissed himself and resumed his attack, trying to hit every exposed part of the goddess, only for the same thing to occur. “Stop it, boy. You may be dead, but you can still strain yourself” she warned him as he started doing everything he could to hurt her, the fire on his hands becoming brighter and hotter at every moment “Nothing good is going to come out of this… I should know”

“What should you know?! You’re nothing more than insane! YOU MADE KILL MY MOTHER!” Leo yelled back as he fell to his knees panting. He was too tired. The battle had taken a toll on him, and the explosion didn’t make his energy any good. So he decided to save what little he had left and heard what the goddess had to say

“I wasn’t always like that, you know…?” she started as she took a deep breath. Leo watched her confused but the scowl on his face remained the same, as well as the wetness that was starting to form in his eyes. “I was once a caring person”

“Of course! And one day I’ll be as great as Percy or as strong as Frank; whichever comes first ‘mujer’” he said sarcastically, but Gaea chosed to ignore him

“There was nothing that I loved more than I loved my family, my sons, and daughters… my husband. They were… my everything, my purpose, you could say… But then, my husband, Uranus…” Leo could feel the venom dripping from her voice “…started abusing my children. At first, it was nothing more than a few names or light punishments; Kronos and his brothers were always doing a mess, but, as the time passed, he became more harsher and… brutal on his ways to punish them and whenever a tried to intervene…”  Her fingers grazed her cheek with a lost look “He went as far as to throw his eldest sons into Tartarus, and he had me watch everything, unable to help my children… So I had Kronos kill him.”

‘Okay, this is getting creepy’ Leo thought with a grimace ‘but… Uranus did deserve that’

“I’m happy you think so, Valdez; it did make me very glad that my husband was gone” Gaea mused at the face Leo made after she spoke “Remember, deities can read your thoughts. Now, where I was…” she ignored Leo’s paler face.

“Oh, that’s right. Kronos took the throne and everything was fine, so I decided to take a so-needed nap. As I slept, I wasn’t able to hear or see anything, but I could feel what happened on my surface, and what I felt wasn’t good at all… I believe you know the story, right?” she glanced at Leo who had took a seat a few feet away from her and was looking at her with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, Kronos gave birth to the Olympians and he ate all of them but Zeus, who managed to escape this” he responded, not really understanding where she was going with all this

“And what did I tell you that I loved more than anything else?”

The pieces suddenly clicked on Leo’s mind and his eyes widened at this “Your family…” he was about to say something else, but the Earth goddess beat him to it. “The Olympian are my grandchildren; I felt their birth, the happiness of my beloved Rea… and her fear when his father swallowed them. I never expected Kronos to turn out like his father, but he did. And my family had to pay the price again.”

Leo looked down with an empathic look, but then he remembered with who she was talking with and argued back again “But they were freed! Zeus saved them and Rea!”

Gaea looked at him and shook her head with a sad smile “But what happened next?”

“War…” Leo breathed out

“For twelve years, Olympians and Titans fought each other. And for twelve years I felt the pain from both sides; I felt the blood that was spilled in my surface; I felt the pleadings of despair from both my children and grandchildren… And where was I? I was asleep, unable to stop the senseless war that my family apart.”

“The Olympians won, of course. But they locked away my children into the depths of my lover, Tartarus, and I was forced to hear their calls for help and their yells of pain… A mother’s biggest regret is not being able to protect her children, Valdez”

Leo looked away at this “Don’t talk to me about mothers and such… You have NO right”

“I know…”Gaea knew it was her fault, but she couldn’t do anything about it, not now, nor ever. “Kronos rose again with the help of your kind, and I tried to regain consciousness, so I could finally put a stop to all this, but he was again, defeated. I felt his soul go back into Tartarus as he cried for me; he cried for me to help him and his siblings… And I obeyed him…”

“Many years before I found you, I found the daughter of Pluto. I didn’t know she was one of the prophesized Seven, but I knew she had a power that would be useful to bring my youngest son with Tartarus to the surface. It was after her death that I learned about the prophecy and how the Fates would bring her back into the game.”

“You killed Hazel?!” he yelled, obviously taken back by the information

“Oh, don’t look at me like that!” she groaned at the glare Leo gave to her “I never killed her, she did that herself… I just used her to bring one of my giants out of Tartarus. Once she was done, I would have freed her with her mother and let them lived in peace. Alcyoneus had the orders to do so”

“When I found you; that was a completely different story… I did have the purpose to kill you. But the Fates had other plans and you ended up killing your mother. I wasn’t myself at that time though”

Leo was mad at her, be he could see as her body tensed up. Whatever she was about to say was important and he knew it “I was growing so impatient, so desperate; that I forgot that the demigods where also my family… I had lost myself… and you had the pay the price. This time it wasn’t Uranus, or Kronos who did the deed… it was… me” her voice wavered at the last words

“I was so lost, that I became the very own thing that I despised” she said under her breath. Muddy water was falling from her green eyes as she tried to cry her heart out. “I-I never did try to back down from what I did… I could have found another way, but I wanted my revenge so ba- badly… I wanted everybody else to suffer my pain”

Gone was the composed woman, and was replaced by a mess of tears and guilt. Leo wanted to feel pity for her, anything, but his grudge against her was impeding him to do so. She had killed his mother… She was the reason Roman and Greek demigods were at the edge of war… She was the reason his life had been a living hell; she deserved everything that had happened to her! She deserved to be dea-

Leo’s eyes widened. This, this wasn’t him… He had never wished the dead of somebody before, he had hated with a burning passion, but never wished the death of somebody. This was what had happened to Gaea in the beginning. She had given in to her emotions, and that made her the opposite of her; that made her… Uncaring

 _‘Everybody deserves a second chance… No matter how wrong they were… as long as there is a spark of goodness inside of them; they can change. You just need to take the first step’_ the faint voice of his mother appeared in his mind. It was something she had told him after he had broken one of her personal projects

 _‘Sometimes, people are like machines… But sometimes they don’t. We make mistakes, machines make errors; those mistakes can be fixed, and so can the machines… But when they cannot be solved, the machines end up being useless, but us…’_ he could feel the hand of his mom in his grease-stained cheek as she said so _‘we can learn to forgive and move on, my lion. In that way, people are better than machines… Never forget that’_

‘I’m not a machine…’ he said in his mind. ‘She is like me and she still good, she as just… lost’

“I’m so, so s-sorry” he heard Gaea said as he glanced back at her. “I k-know you’ll never forgive me for what I’ve done” More muddy tears were falling from her face “But I wanted you to know it… before you’re gone”

Leo couldn’t take it anymore and with an accelerated pace, he made his way towards the Primordial.

“I-I never wanted this to happen, and now we’re dead because of me and…” She never managed to say whatever she was going to say, since a pair of scrawny arms pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Don’t cry… I-I forgive you, but please don’t cry” he couldn’t stand seeing somebody cry, that was one of the reasons he tried so hard to be funny, so other people would feel better thanks to him (Plus, he tended to cry when other people cried) and now he was crying too. Stupid feelings

This had the exact opposite effect, since whatever was left from the goddess emotional defenses was brought down and a waterfall of tears and apologies was throwed at him. The muddy tears, turning the white clothes he was wearing into a brownish color. It was during this kind of moments, when he thanked the gods for not having inherited his father’s awkwardness when treating with other living beings.

It took a while, but Gaea managed to calm down once again. Leo quickly cleaned his tears with the sleeve of his shirt and looked away. “I’m so sorry…” he heard Gaea said, but he quickly interrupted her.

“There’s no need for it, I already forgive you, remember?” Leo reminded her with a sad smile

“It’s not about that” she explained to him. “Before we talked, when you were walking around this place… I took the liberty to read your thought… And I saw your whole life after what I… what I” The guilt was so big for her that it was making her so hard to speak

“Ohh…” was all he managed to say. So she had seen all his rant about being lonely and how he had nobody to care for him. Yikes

“Uh, don’t worry about it” he dismissed her “It’s the ticket that life gave to me and it’s alright” He didn’t want to talk about that, at least not now. There had been enough sadness for one… day? Days? What time was it anyway in this place? Maybe Gaea knew more about this?

Uhm, Gaea?” he asked her, trying to get her attention

“Yes?”

“Where are we exactly?”

She stood thinking for a moment and looked around for any sign of recognition. But if she found one, she didn’t say it. “Your guess it’s as good as mine. Although if I had to choose a place, I would say we are in some kind of Limbo.”

“Like the game?”

She smacked herself. It was obvious that the boy had horrible education with all the years on the run and here she was, expecting him to know about what was she talking about.

“A Limbo is a lace between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Think about a lobby and that we are waiting here for Thanatos to come and collect our souls. Luckily for you, you’re probably going to Elysium, seeing as you were the one to defeat me” She said with a smile at him, before noticing the downcast expression on his face “Hey, what’s wrong?”

One look at the eyes of Leo (Eyes that no child should have) and a peak to his mind was all she needed to know what was happening. Her expression grew serious and the whole place turned from white to gray “You broke of promise on the River Stix” All her suspicions where confirmed the moment Leo nodded his head

“I promised Calypso to help her to get out of her island once all this was over” he confessed “I guess I won’t be needing this anymore, isn’t?” He laughed bitterly as he took a tiny vial with a crimson liquid inside of it “Too much trouble to get this, and we didn’t even use it”

Gaea couldn’t help to feel pity for the poor boy. The Fates were really cruel beings that found joy in turning the life of heroes, into tragic tales. She watched as Leo gazed was glued into the vial and felt his mind being swarmed with hundreds of thought and _What If’s._ It was too overwhelming, that she didn’t see his arms extending to give with the vial. If it wasn’t for his voice calling out to her, she might as well be blind and deaf.itself to her direction

“Take it”

.

.

.

He had to be joking. That was the Physician Cure! It could bring the dead back to life, cure any illness and disease; and he was giving it to her. Why?!

“I-I can’t accept this! You use it!” She exclaimed as she pushed his arm away, confused as Leo sighed

“Look, even if I want to use it, I would need to have a body first, and I’m pretty sure the fire was so strong that there’s nothing more but ashes” he sheepishly said

She couldn’t help but wince at that. I was true; she had seen how his whole body had become pure fire before the explosion destroyed her as well. The fate of his pet-dragon however, was yet to be known.

Maybe if she grabbed the cure, she could mend her ways and, who knows? Maybe fix one or two mistakes she made, related to a certain demigod

“Just… if you’re going to grabbed it: Please don’t go all ‘loco’ at the world again” he pleaded her “Okay?”

She had made her decision. She wasn’t going to waste this second chance, she would fix everything. Not in Uranus or Kronos’s way, she was going to make everything right on her own way.

“Okay” She said, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Good” he smiled at her and offered her the vial again, only that this time, she did accept it.

“So this is it” he stated in a bitter tone. He wasn’t ready to leave, but the world had its own way of moving, and he couldn’t go against it. It wasn’t natural

“I fear so…”she said. If she was going to use the Cure, she was going to make sure to make everything alright

“Then, if this is the end” he stood up and dusted himself off “It was nice to meet the not-crazy side of you, Lady Gaea” He said in the most cordial and warm way he could. And that was with a hand on his waist on the sassy way he could and another extended towards her.

“It was nice to meet you too Valdez” She took his hand and stood up to, making Leo realize how tall the woman was. She was at least a head taller than Percy.

She uncorked the vial and took a last look at the son of Hephaestus. She couldn’t help but to wonder if the things humans said were true. The more pressure you add to a piece of coal, the greater the diamond would be. And Leo Valdez was, in all his being, the brightest diamond she had ever seen.

“Bottom’s up” he signalized her and without a second thought, she gulped the entire thing

“Ugh, this is disgusting!” It tasted like Gorgon’s blood, but way worse. Her whole being was burning as the potion took effect. She could feel her power coming back and saw how her skin took a healthier tone than the deathly pale it had.

All around her, the world was falling to pieces. The whiteness of the place started to disappear as cracks took over the entire world, revealing the inky darkness that the fragile walls hided behind them. It was a heartbreaking scene, seeing a calm and serene world being turned in nothing but dust and Leo… Leo could only watch as everything around him fell to the void. The place where he was standing was the only one that had yet to fall, and even that seemed to be breaking.

He watched as Gaea from started flickering like a TV with bad reception, changing colors from time to time until it flickered once more… and she was no more.

He didn’t know how much he stood there, looking at the place where the goddess had been, before somebody put a hand over his right shoulder. He glanced up and saw the Thanatos itself. Or that’s what he thought since Hazel once told him about the god and how you felt when you were near him. You felt, acceptance…

“Leo Valdez?” the dark-haired man now known as Thanatos said as he took a tablet from out of his pocket and a stylus from the other. It was the when he realized that what was over his shoulder was nothing more than one of his black wings.

“The one and only!” he chirped happily

“You seem awfully happy for somebody who just died and has a one-way ticket to the Fields of Punishment, you know? I was expecting you to plead for, I don’t know… more time with the living? Saying that this is all a mistake?” the god of the death confessed

“You only die once in a lifetime. It’s better if you do it with style” he explained to him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Whatever, dude. This just makes my job easier” he said, not really caring about what the boy had to say “Hades has a really tight schedule, so, let’s get going Mr. Brightside”

Ohh! But Leo wasn’t finished. It wasn’t every day that you got to annoy the God of Death himself “Great! As long as you don’t mind me singing all the way down there”

“You could even dance for all I care. Just, please don’t sing anything from…” but he never got to finish his sentence, as Leo started singing at all volume ‘I Wanna Go’ from Britney Spears. “…Britney Spears” the angel sighed. He wasn’t payed enough by Hades to stand this

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, somewhere in a forest…

 

A woman in her forties was walking out of the forest that kept a certain camp protected from the monsters that left her lover’s realm. The sooner she left that place, the sooner she would be able to put her plans into action.

Gaea could have wiped out all the Roman and Greek armies in that place. Nobody was expecting her, let alone knew she was back to life. It was her perfect chance.

However, she wasn’t going to do it. She had promised to someone that she was going to fix all her mistakes and reunite her family once again. (Titans, Cyclopes, Giants, Olympians, Primordials and Demigods)

She would have to start by slapping some sense into Zeus’s head and make him let the other gods see their children, which, with the support of Hera, who wanted her family united too, would be easy.

But before anything else, she was going to retrieve something from the Underworld. And she wasn’t going to return until she had it with her. She would go as far as to open the Doors of Death again, if she needed to.

Her grandson, Hades, could bite her for all she cared. She was going to bring Leo Valdez back to life.

And this time, she was going to make things right…


End file.
